Haven't posted in God knows how long but back to start a discussion. Reading the recent thread about the takeover and club having no supporters club if/when the ball drops with potential new owners to help any potential club threatening situation.Having set up the supporters club with a number of people in 2015 such as bigalan which didn't pan out as we had wanted, partly due to the success the club had during that time, I feel now supporters of the club need to look at something like this again. Setting up fan forums and meetings would be ideal and something I would love to do but now residing in the States makes that very difficult. BUT, given the impact social media has on our society I think that provides a platform to set up something that all fans can be a part of and have a say in, both at home and like myself living abroad. I have spoken to Alan and am interested in setting up some sort of online forum to discuss and debate a new fan run initiative and would like to get feedback from the good people on here, whether you would like to get involved, or if you have any advice (I know there are ex Trust members and ex club employees on this) that you can give to help get something off the ground?

Regarding the new owners, if & when the deal gets over the line, I would imagine a supporters club may be something that would be part of the bigger picture going forward. In saying this & again it's only my opinion, any supporters club would have to be run from within the club with club representatives on board. This I feel is highly important as both the club itself & the supporters club will run in overall benefit for the Dundalk FC. Having previously been involved with a supporters club many moons ago, I know the hard work that is involved, the time needed to make it work but all worth it & it's one regret I've noticed that during this current period of success there was no official supporters club from within the Dundalk FC.

Times of course have moved on & social media plays a part in most things these days & a supporters club will be no different. A forum as described by Pingu is a good idea & also together with an official supporters club you could have affiliated clubs from areas outside the town as well as from within ie pubs & so on. This may well be a new start ahead & with new owners or not, the idea of a supporters club structure should be explored.

Talking bullshit townfan7.thats the trap - having board members on supporter cmittes and vice versa.seperate and equal the 2 always.the last supporters club jumped too readily into bed with the board in the last instance and that was the problem there :D not that the last board were feckers or anything but we need to separate

tbh i'd be all for a supporters club and v much against peak 6i was told they were gone only to be proved wrong and thats no problem for me to handle

Peak6 are setting the club up for a BATE borisov type of dominate and assault type tactic with dundalkit could work but its a gamble and if it fails supporters need to be armed to fight back.

they'll spiel surely at the start of the campaign will be brilliant and they'll sell it to the fools.just beware

An affiliated supporters club with board representation is a nice though but for now the focus should be on setting up a trust style entity as a backup in case it goes tits up in the next 5 years. It's going to be a hard sell though - we want you to give 10 or 20 or 50 quid a month into a fund we hope not to have to use!

Ridleys regular wrote:Talking bullshit townfan7.thats the trap - having board members on supporter cmittes and vice versa.seperate and equal the 2 always.the last supporters club jumped too readily into bed with the board in the last instance and that was the problem there :D not that the last board were feckers or anything but we need to separate

tbh i'd be all for a supporters club and v much against peak 6i was told they were gone only to be proved wrong and thats no problem for me to handle

Peak6 are setting the club up for a BATE borisov type of dominate and assault type tactic with dundalkit could work but its a gamble and if it fails supporters need to be armed to fight back.

they'll spiel surely at the start of the campaign will be brilliant and they'll sell it to the fools.just beware

I don't do Bullshit, I'm not in the Bullshit business, let's say we agree to disagree...

seand wrote:An affiliated supporters club with board representation is a nice though but for now the focus should be on setting up a trust style entity as a backup in case it goes tits up in the next 5 years. It's going to be a hard sell though - we want you to give 10 or 20 or 50 quid a month into a fund we hope not to have to use!

Thats where working with the club is needed and agree on some sort of incentives for a supporters club/trust membership. The usual stuff like discounts in the club shop, functions, fanzines, and dare I mention the old members prices in the bars as examples. Representation or regular contact with the club board and hopefully then regular news updates on all aspects of the club, even if that is no news, would be worth its weight alone for membership going by the amount of questions asked here. Im sure there are no shortage of examples to follow. What is BS would be not to work with the club!!

seand wrote:An affiliated supporters club with board representation is a nice though but for now the focus should be on setting up a trust style entity as a backup in case it goes tits up in the next 5 years. It's going to be a hard sell though - we want you to give 10 or 20 or 50 quid a month into a fund we hope not to have to use!

If the takeover happens, it would be good to hear from the former Trust officers who are involved with the club. Clarification on whether the current Trust legal entity still exists would be helpful.

Ezeikial posts personal opinions and observations from this supporters perspective.

I have been speaking with Supporters over the past 3/4 weeks about getting something set up. We are looking at launching around Summer (In time for European games) or next Season, to ensure we put the work and effort into setting it up properly and doing all due diligence in the process.t's easy to look back but this is something in 2015 I feel we didn't do.I am again inviting anyone here on board to join the think tank in getting this off the ground who wish to help out. If anyone is interested or again has suggestions, comment below or feel free to PM me.

Once bitten, twice shy. Over the years a number of initiatives have been set under nub supporters and the club. All appear to have failed in their goals and failed with a lack of transparency. I’m not blaming anyone. It’s just how I see they unfolded. How would this be different?

Thanks for the question and comments. Having been part of the last failed attempt along with bigalan I know how hard it was to get off the ground and I think that was mainly due to errors made initially by me, mostly by setting up the committee before we had the club established, although that was done with the best intentions. This time around there is a temporary group set up to get the ball rolling and work on a plan for this. Once we have that and go into a launch phase a committee will be decided by vote of our members. I would hope the club would be ran how our members want it to be and I’d love it to be as transparent as we possibly can be. I hope this at least answers a little bit of what you’re asking but welcome any more comment or suggestion

Chicago is well known for sport with the Bears, the Cubs, the Bulls, the Blackhawks and the White Sox just some of its most famous brands.

Dundalk Football Club can now join the list of sporting organisations with links to the third most populated city in the United States following the establishment of the Chicago Dundalk FC Supporters' Club last week.

The new group is spearheaded by local man Dean Arrowsmith, who many will know as 'Pingu'. The 28-year-old has been a Dundalk supporter all his life and worked at the club from 2008 until 2012. Starting off working on the schools' programme, Dean graduated up to become the club's kitman under Ian Foster and was club promotions officer in 2012 before being let go at a time when the future of the club was very much in doubt

Amid the euphoria generated by the signings of Patrick McEleney and Georgie Kelly, it is worthwhile to reflect on the total financial mess at Bray (and the Limerick meltdown) and on this tweet from Dean Arrowsmith

Dean Arrowsmith‏@pingudean 6 years ago today #SaveOurClub was established